How can the Gen-Y stay on top of their finances and keep debts at bay

Are you scrambling for shelter to save your portfolio from the recent market twists? According to recent reports, it has been said that during the market mayhem of August, 2011, the investors who were under the age of 35 had to move from stocks to bonds in order to continue making money even during the negative economic situations. Remember that our youth not only allows us to have fewer wrinkles and faster metabolisms but also provides us with higher risk tolerance for investments. But if you belong to the Generation-Y, then are you equipped with enough knowledge about your finances? Are you aware of the big picture, the government debt, the after-effects of yet another recession and above all, the importance of saving your bucks? Are you aware of the importance of leading a debt free student life in 2012? If answered no, read on.

Why is it a vital necessity to save your bucks?

Looking at the spurring level of bankruptcies, budget deficits and all the other problems, the bottom line is that there is no other option but to save money. Despite all such financial issues in the nation, it seems that many young adults are still not aware of the importance of saving your bucks. Saving money can put money to work for you and this can become beneficial when you fall in a financial bind. Unless you save money in a high yield savings account that pays you interest rates on the money that you're accumulating, you won't be able to make money beget money. Achieving financial freedom and repaying your debts without getting help from professional debt relief agencies is all possible with saving money.

The secret guide to investment for the young generation

Are you thinking of investing your bucks in the stock market but scared of the fluctuations and the bear and bull markets? If answered yes, read on to educate yourself on some investment tips for Gen-Y.

• Look before you leap: Mostly it is seen that the young generation is famous for taking hasty decisions but when it comes to the investment market, there's no place for hasty decisions. You have to bet your money only after conducting a research so as to ensure gains.
• Look at the long term: You should look at the long term, no matter you're putting money for the short term gains. Be sure that the investment portfolio takes into account both the long term and the short term decisions and therefore you need to be careful about that.
• Avoid switching from one asset to another: Don't be fickle-minded! Avoid committing the error of switching from one asset to another as you may lose your dollars in the process. Remember that not all investments will reap benefit at the same time.
• Have no doubts in mind: If you're investing your bucks in an asset with some doubts in your mind, you may tend to take the wrong decision. Avoid committing such errors so that you don't end up in a mess. Hire an investment broker who can assist you in every step.

Managing money – What's the secret behind it?

As you're young, you must be going through a financial haywire with no tracking of your income and expenses. Since tough times are ahead, you have to know the secret of managing your personal finances so as to avoid falling in debt.

• Follow a budget: Craft a budget so that you can keep a close watch on your pennies. Don't overstretch your budget as you may fall in trouble. Also evaluate your budget at the end of the month
• Cut short your credit cards: You must cut short the usage of the credit cards as this is not something that you can brag about in friendly gatherings. Use cash instead of credit so that you don't become liable to repay money with unnecessary interest rates.
• Save money: Irrespective of what you earn in a month, you should make sure you save at least 10% of it to build an emergency fund. If you receive allowances from your family, save a portion of that money too.
  
  

Keeping up with the latest tips to save money, invest and manage your personal finances is required if you're a young adult. Follow each tip religiously so that you don't have to resort to professional debt relief companies to live a debt free life.

Five Ways to Build Your Child’s Self-Esteem

Are you a new parent or has your child exhibited signs of poor self-esteem? If so, there are things you can do to guarantee a build-up or improvement in their self-esteem. Listed below are five ways to
encourage and build your child’s self-esteem:


1. Listen and pay attention: If your child is speaking to you or asks for your attention, listen and respond accordingly. Of course, if your child is asking for your attention in an unacceptable way (for example, crying when he doesn’t get something he wants or interrupting you when you have asked not to be interrupted), you should not condone this behavior. However, you should
take some time during your day to ask your child how they are doing that day and see if there is anything they would like to talk to you about (whether it be a trivial topic or something more serious). Doing this will tell your child that you care about what they have to say and how they feel.


2. Encourage trying new things: Whether it is a new skill like riding a bike or trying a new food, find a subtle way to encourage your child to take safe risks and try new things. This skill should be
learned early so that they will know how to handle failure and know the importance of “try, trying again.” Of course, you should never make a scene by trying to force your child to try something new. This may cause resentment and actually defeat the purpose. Find a subtle way to ease your child into it; for example, tell them the story of when you first learned to ride a bike before they try it out. This lets them know that everyone struggles before learning how to do
something.


3. Celebrate accomplishments and talk about failures: If your child succeeds at something, recognize it, no matter how small the task. Give them a high five or just simply say, “You did a great job!” Equally important is recognizing when your child needs to talk about their failures. Some children are not easily emotionally affected by failure, while other children beat themselves up when they fail. If your child becomes angry when they under-perform, you should never ignore these feelings. Remind your child that perfection is not the point when it comes to discovering new things. Teach them that the process of learning is more important than the end product, and patience is a virtue when reaching for a goal. Also, remind a child who gives up after the first try that they will never learn to do anything by just trying once.


4. Teach your child manners: When it comes to self-esteem, a child who knows the difference between acceptable behavior and unacceptable behavior (and knows how to behave accordingly) will always exhibit better self-esteem than one who does not. This is because a well-behaved child will receive positive feedback from their family, teachers and friends. This positive feedback creates a feeling of self-worth and self-acceptance in your child. Teaching
manners early on can be difficult for a parent, but once these values are instilled in your child, they will become a part of their innate behavior.


5. Teach by example: Perhaps the most important thing you can do to teach your child self-esteem, is to have self-esteem yourself. If you frequently talk about yourself in a negative way or exhibit a fear of trying new things, your child will mirror this behavior. Small children are like sponges, and they will mimic everything their parent or guardian does. If you love yourself and treat yourself with respect, so will your child. If you are timid about life and say negative things about yourself, so will your child. To effectively teach your child self-esteem, you must first have self-esteem.


Lindsey Webster has been a rehabilitation counselor for 15 years and also owns the site http://www.mastersincounseling.org           She likes to write about different topics related to counseling and careers.

Depression - Signs, Symptoms and Where To Turn To For Help

D E P R E S S I O N:  Desperate; Empty; Powerless; Relationship problems; Emotional; Sad; Suicidal; Isolated; Offend easily; Not fun.


What a horrible word!  What an even more horrible emotion!  Having just posted "God Bless The Children", I felt the next logical topic to address is depression.  All people, children and adult alike, that have been abused (any kind of abuse) go through terrible depression.  It's a normal emotion when you have had your choices taken away and someone has treated you so inhumanely.  Even those who have not been abused may experience depression at some time in their life.    


All depression feels the same, but the length of time that it lasts and the reason and depth of emotion may vary.  


It's important to know that you are not alone.  Your situation is not hopeless.  There are many things you can do to help yourself, even if you don't think you want to help yourself.  When you're depressed, it can feel like no one understands.  They do.  Ideally you can go to your parent for help.  If your parent is not an option though, find a good friend, a trusted neighbor, even a teacher or school counselor.  Give the people in your life a chance to help.  Everyone likes to be needed, so when you are the one needing the help, all you have to do is reach out.  There are very good, kind people who can lead you in the right direction.  You need to be open to sharing your thoughts and feelings honestly.  Then when you are doing better and your friend needs you, the favor will be returned.  That's what life is all about - loving and helping those in need.


It seems like it may consume you and there is no way out, but I guarantee you that the day will come when you see that light at the end of the tunnel.  You made it!  You feel better and you begin to experience happiness again.  


There is a person in my own life that said to me once "What do you think people in the olden days did when they were depressed?  Nothing!  People back then didn't have the time to be depressed, so there wasn't any such thing back then."  This person meant well, but she had no clue.  She thought that she could advise me to "pull myself up by the boot straps" and just move forward in blissful joy.


"They" (who 'they' are, I don't know) say that the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.  This applies to depression every bit as much as it applies to various addictions.  In fact addictions, as you well know, cause depression.  Please don't misunderstand me.  Addictions are not necessarily caused by depression, but instead, depression is caused by addictions, in addition to other factors, such as: Divorce; a broken relationship; hanging with the wrong type of friends; getting overly involved in social media so that time with friends and loved ones is drastically  decreased; associating with negative people; the loss, or death of a friend or loved one; loss of employment.  These are only a small sampling of reasons for depression.


Many times the most difficult thing to do is to look inward at yourself and determine why you are in this situation in the first place.  What is causing your depression?  What do you need to do to correct it?  
1. After admitting there is a problem, reach out to others for their help and support.  
2. Go see a medical professional, in other words, go see your doctor.  There are some very good medications that you can take, at the direction of a qualified, licensed physician.  
3. Make an appointment with a Therapist (Psychiatrist, Psychologist, Clinical Social Worker, to name a few).  The difference between the various therapist's is training and services provided.  A Psychiatrist can provide counseling and prescribe medications, if needed.  They can also admit patient's into a hospital.   A Psychologist does not prescribe medication, but is able to listen and counsel effectively.  They can administer psychological testing and make recommendations based on the testing results.  A Clinical Social Worker can listen and counsel, but is also knowledgeable on what resources are available in the community to help.  


If you have insurance, make sure to contact the Insurance Company for a list of Provider's in your network.  If a Provider is not in your network, the fees charged will be paid at a lower rate and you will have to pay what the Insurance Company does not.  The Insurance Company may also have limits on how many appointments are authorized during the course of a year.  


The following link may provide you with additional very important information and resources:  


Depression Tips   


Disclaimer:  I am not a Medical Professional.  Please use my information only as a guide.  You will need to do your own research in order to get a more comprehensive listing of information and resources.  


Should you wish to contact me with information you have obtained that you'd like to share, please e-mail me at:


CherishYourChildren@hotmail.com


Follow me on: Twitter: @CherishYourKids






Depression Tips

God Bless the Children - Shout It From The Rooftops

To say that I have no tolerance for child abuse is a HUGE understatement.  With all the news coming out about high-profile (alleged) child molesters, (See Sandusky Penn State Univ. and Bernie Fine Syracuse Univ. )  I encourage parents to believe their children and to stand with and support them as they report and recover from abuse.


Hopefully you will never need these resources, but just in case, I've included some additional resources, below.   




Did you know:  One out of every four girls will be sexually abused before the age of 18.  20% are under the age of 8.  More than 90% of abusers are someone the child knows and trusts.  For more information, click on:   


Prevent_Child_Sexual_Abuse.htm


Should you need information on how to protect your own children, or how to report sexual abuse, or even look up a name on the Sexual Abuse Registry, links are included at the bottom of this post.


______________________________________________________

"God Bless The Children"

As sad as it is I think every one of us know somebody that has been sexually abused.  It is rampant in our society.  Who molests children?  Some mistakenly think it's always a "stranger".  Parents teach their children to not talk to strangers.  Unfortunately, you can find child molesters among your neighbors, church goers, and other trusted friends or colleagues.  People who commit these heinous acts can be well educated, highly accomplished and otherwise kind, loving and trustworthy.  It's always a shock when one discovers that the child down the street, the child next door, your own child or grandchild was molested by a friend, neighbor, or family member.  The emotions that fill you up inside upon discovering someone you love has been molested are those of shock, denial, sick to your stomach, anger, sick to your stomach (again), an intense urge to bring harm to the perpetrator, and ultimately a drive to rally your children around you and almost manically do whatever needs to be done to protect them.

Rather than going on about this, I will just finish by saying that we need to teach our children to NEVER KEEP QUIET ABOUT ABUSE.  If someone you know is being abused, neglected, and/or molested teach them while they're young to scream it from the rooftops if needs be.  The only way to stop from being abused is to get it out in the open.  If the abuser threatens to harm the child even more, or harm the child's family, do everything they have to in order to get away, tell a friend, teacher, or parent.  Get help no matter what.  Let your children know that there is nothing they can say or do that will make you love them less.  It is your job to love and protect them.  Put your own self-interest behind you and do everything you can think of (within the law) to keep them safe.  

Last, but certainly not least, pray that God will bless the children with strength and courage to get through the trauma of being abused.  Pray that you also, as the parent, guardian, friend, or teacher will have the strength and courage to always put the child first.  There is no justification for not doing all within your power to protect them and help them to not only survive, but to recover.  

Thank you for indulging me as I stand on my soap box.  If there is something else you need that isn't listed below, feel free to contact me at: CherishYourChildren@hotmail.com.  Now, for those resources I promised:

7_Steps_to_Protecting_Our_Children_from_Sexual_Abuse.htm


Get_Help_Related_to_Child_Sexual_Abuse.htm


Reporting_Child_Sexual_Abuse_to_the_Authorities.htm


To search the Sexual Abuse Registry, click on: Sex_Offender_Registry.htm and it will direct you to the National and State Registry's.


Join the Movement to End Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). For more information, click on the following link:
Join_the_Movement_to_End_Child_Sexual_Abuse




lcb

What Would You Do About the Debt Ceiling Situation if You Were In Washington?

I truly do not believe that we will default if a deal is not made by Aug. 2nd.  We have enough revenue coming in to pay the interest owed on our loans, pay Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and Military personnel, as well as all of the other required payments due.

This "game" of playing politics is only revealing just how corrupt our President and Representatives are, whether Democrat, or Republican. 

When my mother-in-law cashed out her husbands 401K w/o his knowledge and when she kept overdrawing her checking accounts b/c she thought that if she had a check that there must be money in the account, the bank closed her accounts and she had to pay all her bills with money orders or cashiers checks.  This is just plain STUPID!!

How hard is it to sit a group of government officials down, review what our financial obligations are on a monthly basis, compare it to how much revenue is received on a monthly basis and then HONESTLY and with INTEGRITY, in a bi-partisan manner, go line by line cutting what needs to be cut w/o hurting our Nation and w/o threatening our elderly?

Personally, I would start with the billions of dollars that are sent to countries that have proven that they are NOT our allies. We can still assist those non-allies when a humanitarian need arises, simply by allowing charitable organizations and religious organizations to come to their aid.  But I would STOP the billions upon billions of dollars leaving our country.

STOP scaring the elderly.  Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security have enough money to keep those responsibilities to our elderly.  However, more work needs to be done to slash the fraud that takes from our elderly.

Raise the limit $1T, but cut 10% from EVERY Department's budget. 

FIRE ALL of the Czars. They are NOT NEEDED! 

Freeze on ALL salaries of those "Serving" our country in governmental positions.  (Not the Military and Not the Elderly).  Get rid of "Obama-Care", or make it a requirement that all Government employees, including Senators, Congressmen, on up to the President have to use the same Obama-Care policies that the general public are required, and make them pay for their policies, just as we will be required to do.  No free insurance coverage for government employees/officials.

Stop the President from sending his family on vacation after vacation, after vacation! It costs US millions, perhaps billions to send them to Africa, Norway, wherever.  It seems like they're trying to milk us of all of our money before they lose the next election.

Maybe Mr. Obama would stand a chance of winning a second term as President, if he were to at least appear to care about the Country. 

Cut the Business Tax rates so businesses can bring their work back to this country. 

My last job is in the process of out-sourcing their Medical Insurance Physician Credentialing Department to India this coming October.  This will cause thousands of current employees, from several States, to lose their jobs.

Mr. President, you have an opportunity to make Americans happy they elected you, rather than regret.  Currently, however,  you are worse than Jimmy Carter was, which, I'm sure, only makes Jimmy Carter happy.  

If I were you, I would be willing to genuinely work with Repubs. and Dems. alike and make the needed agreements to get our finances balanced.  It just may restore the faith we put in you when electing the first African-American President ever.  What a sad statement.  As if being African-American has anything to do with the quality of a person.  Indulge me a moment...

When my father was in the hospital following cancer surgery, he told his African-American physician "what the world needs more of is black doctors."  The doctor correctly responded, "I disagree.  What the world needs more of is Good doctors."

... following that line of thinking, Mr. President, you are being judged as an American President, NOT as a African-American President.  I am concerned, though, that there are some who would be apprehensive to elect another African-American.  This country has come so far.  Do Not so fundamentally transform our Nation that it ruins it for future aspirations of African-Americans.  

We need you to be a Man and a Leader.   We need you to be Decisive, Ethical and Fair.  Stop with all of the GW Bush bashing and the Republican bashing.   It makes you appear small.  A Real Man takes responsibility for his actions. It makes a man more appealing and possibly even re-electable when they take responsibility w/o placing blame on others.  

Restore our trust!  Restore our Country!

Sincerely

LCB

Nikki Newman: My Bullying Hell – And How I Survived

The following story is printed with permission from the author, Nikki Newman.  The original printing was published by "Good Enough Mother". Please swing on by their site (http://www.goodenoughmother.com/) and check it out.  It's excellent

Nikki, Thank you for sharing your story. May I re-post it on my website? Please take a look and see if the content of my site complies with what you are trying to do to help adults and young people. (http://www.cherishyourchildren.com) or Twitter: @cherishyourkids Thank you, again, for sharing your experiences. Very courageous.

written by Nikki Newman

@Candy, I would be happy to share this piece on your site! Thank you. Your site and work look inspirational and I’d love to learn more about it. Building self-esteem is the kind of thing I was thinking about with workshops etc…maybe someday I can do something like that. Great work!


Thank you Nikki, This is a very important story for our specific times.  There is far too much bullying going on and something/someone has to change things.  Whether it be you, or me, or the two of us together, I want very much to be part of teaching our young people how to expend their energy into much more productive areas that bring about a much happier, safer society.

Okay – deep breath!

In my last Good Enough Mother piece (Are You Too Nice For Your Own Good) I touched upon the topic of bullying – and what I went through while I was at school many years ago.

So it feels like a natural progression from my last piece and a necessary part of my journey here on GEM to write about this topic now. But I’ll be honest, opening myself up like this is hard!

In the past two weeks I’ve heard from two friends whose kids are being bullied at school, one friend is actually moving house, moving towns and schools entirely to escape the hell her son is going through.  I am even more angered that the school in question is the very same school I attended and experienced bullying at over 20 years ago.

For me, things at high school became tangled and confused with my home-life when a friend of the school bullies who were already problematic for my sister and I, became our step-sister. Our personal life ended up as part of the public life of our school and nothing felt safe anymore.

Then, when I started to date a guy in the same year-group as the bullies, things got much worse.  My idea of having a boyfriend at age 15 was to hang out at break times, have lunch together, hold hands and share the odd kiss.  That was it.  But the rumors and names that had started to spread around school were nothing short of vicious and I couldn’t understand it.

What I didn’t know but learned eventually, was that this guy had previously got a girl pregnant and she’d had an abortion.  I had no idea.  But this is where the rumors and names were coming from.  By being associated with this guy I myself was labelled. I felt sick.  I am sure there was jealously at work there too.

Shortly after, we broke up.  I decided I really didn’t like him enough for this kind of hassle. But the bullying  – verbal and physical – continued relentlessly.  Time and time again I went to the teachers, my mom took time off work to come into speak to them, time and time again, But NOTHING WAS DONE.

It was becoming unbearable.  I started to skip school but it was my studies of all things that kept me going.  I would skip school and work on my assignments in the peace and safety of my home.  I’d attend just enough to get to grips with the work, get books out of the library, buy books if need be, and then skip what I could to avoid break times. Books became my refuge – everything from Shakespeare (the witches in Macbeth? Oh yeah, I had my own coven to deal with) to Maya Angelou (‘I know why the caged bird sings’? I did in my own way) – and my work was my voice. It felt like the only way I could show those bitches the middle finger.   By reminding myself one day I’d be out of there and my hard work would take me far away to better things, I felt some hope.  But it was hard.  I’d also started to smoke and drink to deal with the stress.

The worst was yet to come.  An end of year show was planned by the bullies’ year group as it was their graduation year, but they were the main organizers and had free reign.  I heard rumors that they had something lined up for me during the show.

I was nervous but I knew there was not much longer to endure before the bullies left school and my life for good. Before heading to the hall on the day of the show, a teacher called me out of class and told me I wouldn’t be going to watch it.  I was to go with him instead.  What was going on?

While the show went ahead across in the drama hall, I sat alone in a classroom, supervised by the teacher.  Eventually he said as if in explanation: ‘They’re using your name in vain over there’. That didn’t sound good.

Later I found out what happened. During the end of year awards segment, I’d been awarded ‘Slag of the Year’, a prize specially devised for me by my long-term antagonists. Two year groups had watched this, which included all of my peers, my friends, my sister, and all the teaching staff:  300 or so audience members in total.

I was devastated, horrified.

I will tell you that a couple of years later I bumped into the ringleader of the gang in a nightclub washroom.  She claimed not to remember me.  High heels and alcohol gave me the guts I needed… this time, I blocked her way out of the cubicle as she had done to me at school but instead of hurling abuse at her, I demanded an apology. I sure as hell got my apology.  Did I feel better?  A little, but I also felt bad.  This wasn’t the kind of thing I did.  But on the other hand, I guess she deserved it ten times over.

But how come more than 20 years later, the same problems are going on at the same school?  Why are these bullies allowed to rule?  Where are the rights of the vulnerable?

What I realize is there will always be bullies, in every walk of life.  What we can do is learn ways to arm ourselves against them while they are dealt with harshly – yet also of course – constructively.

Despite my attempt in the nightclub at some sort of ‘resolution’ I carried the pain and shame caused by that time around for many years and it reverberated in many negative ways for a long time.  Only later, much later, in my late 20s, did I really start to ask, why was I removed and shut in a room while they were allowed to go ahead to do that?  Shouldn’t it have been the other way around?   I’d had no way of defending myself.  The school had failed in its duty to me.

If I could I would set up workshops for kids who need to know how to deal with this sort of shit:  real, practical survival skills for personal protection. We can support and empower the vulnerable even if the bullies will never be completely gone.

With my own son I have performed role-play, showing him how he can react to threatening people and in threatening situations, giving him the words and the body-language to use.  These things just don’t come naturally to a lot of kids.  We owe it to them to teach them.  Simply saying ‘stand up for yourself’ isn’t enough.  Telling them to ‘tell someone’ is not enough, although it is vitally important.  The vulnerable kids need to know the power they have in them and to know the issues lie with the bullies, not with them.

I found strength in holding onto some sort of goal (a dream) and in doing good stuff for myself  – education – that NOBODY could take away. I could see ignorance all around me and I knew I was not like that.  And the experience then is part of the drive now that allows me to go for my dreams more and more as my life goes on and without apology.

That said – I’m still saddened that nothing has changed. Things MUST change. But what will it take…

Okay – that’s what happened to me… but what were your teen experiences? Were you bullied and how did you deal with it? Do you still carry the scars around today? Or were you a bully who now regrets your actions… I’d love to hear your stories…

Nikki Newman, 36, from England, currently lives in Qatar, where she moved this year due to her husband’s work. A former teacher and proud mother of 7-year-old Oliver, she’s currently focusing on settling her family into their new lives, while also pursuing her passion for painting. To see Nikki’s work please go to: www.nikkinewmanart.com